8 

py 1 


:e purpose of life, its objects and pursuits, and its 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. 


ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



or THE 


Unikrsitj 0f 


BY . 


MAJ. GEN. GIDEON J. PILLOW. 



NASHVILLE: 

CAMERON & FALL, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, CORNER COLLEGE AND UNION STREETS. 

1856. 







CORRESPONDENCE. 


UNIVERSITY OP NASHVILLE, | 
Nashville, Tenn., June 23, 1856. ) 

Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, — Dear Sir : — Enclosed herewith you will find a communication from 
Committees of the two Societies of the University. It has been delayed to secure the signatures 
of certain members temporarily absent. I trust that you will comply with the wish expressed in 
the communication, and heartily concurred in by the members of the Faculty. I am authorized 
to rec^eive your response, and to publish the address as soon as a copy may be furnished. 

With sincere regard, I remain, yours truly, 

B. R. JOHNSON. 


NASHVILLE UNIVERSITY, ) 
Nashville, Tenn., June 12, 1856. f 

Maj. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow; — Dear Sir: — Having listened, last evening, with a high degree of 
pleasure to your judicious and eloquent address, we urgently solicit a copy for publication. 
Hoping that the unanimous wish of the Societies whom you addressed, may meet your favorable 
consideration and compliance, we remain, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

ANDREW WOOD, 

S. G. SMITH, 

C. J. FOSTER, 

[ Committee of Agafheridan Society, 

M. W. SMITH, 

WM. C. SMITH, 

LEWIS D. PRESCOTT, 
Committee of the Eroaophian Society. 


Madrt County, Tenn., June 20, 1856. 

Messrs, A. Wood, M. W. Smith, and others — I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
12th inst., requesting a copy of my address, delivered before the Literary Societies, for publica- 
tion, and I herewith submit a copy, and place it at your disposal. 

Respectfully, 

GID. J. PILLOW. 
To 

Andrew Wood, 

S. G. Smith, 

C. J. Foster, 

Committee of the Agatheridan Society. 

M. W. Smith, 

Wm, C. Smith, 

Lewis D. Prescott, 

Committee of the Eroaophian Society. 




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ADDRESS. 


Young Gentlemen of the Literary Societies of the 
University: 

In compliance with jour request to address you on this, the 
Semi-centennial Anniversary of the University, I have chosen 
as a subject for your consideration, the Purpose of Life^ its Ob- 
jects and Pursuits^ and its Duties and Responsibilities. 

In the view which I shall take of this subject, I shall endeavor 
to indicate the surest means of success in its pursuits, and to 
point out the rocks upon which are wrecked the prospects of 
many favored with its high advantages. 

You will perceive that my subject partakes of a practical 
character, and is one deeply interesting to all young gentlemen 
having hopes of future usefulness and distinction. 

It is now about twenty -nine years since this institution con- 
ferred upon your speaker the evidences of scholarship, deemed 
requisite to qualify him for the duties of life ; and he feels that 
an active participation in the affairs of the world, and constant 
intercourse with all classes and conditions of men, enable him 
to speak with some degree of confidence of the habits and pur- 
suits conducive to success in the man of the world. While he 
would not hold himself up as a model for the imitation of 
others, nor maintain for one moment that he has profitably 


6 ADDRESS. 


availed himself of the advantages with which he has been fa- 
vored, he nevertheless feels well assured that his opportunities 
of observation, and his experience as a practical worker, have 
been of a character to enable him to make suggestions, not 
wholly without value to those soon to embark upon the great 
ocean of life, without a knowledge of its dangers and breakers. 

Entertaining these opinions, I have accepted your invitation, 
in the hope that I might be able to render you some service ; 
but without the expectation or desire of making a display as a 
public speaker. 

In the consideration of the subject of this discourse, it is not 
inappropriate that we glance for a moment at the condition in 
which we find ourselves as a race, and at the theatre upon which 
life’s drama is to be performed. 

Without any agency of our own we find ourselves in being, 
and that we are surrounded by myriads of beings like ourselves — 
beings with like physical powers and wants — with like sympa- 
thies, passions, and prejudices- — ^with like mental endowments 
and capabilities, all independent in action ; and yet, in the social 
relations of life, dependent upon each other. In infancy, the 
most helpless of living creatures, but in manhood, limitless in in- 
tellectual development, and almost resistless in the means with 
which to overcome obstacles to the accomplishment of his pur- 
poses, and essentially the masters and rulers of God’s created 
universe — such is man. 

The field of his operations is this vast globe of material mat- 
ter, provided by an All-wise Providence, with every thing es- 
sential to man’s subsistence and comfort, and governed by laws 
of climate and season, of gravitation and motion, and lighted 
and warmed by a great luminary in the firmament of Heaven, 


ADDRESS. 


7 

without whose presence darkness and gloom would overshadow 
the earth. 

Why we were thus formed — ^from what great creative power 
we had our original existence — for what purposes we exist — 
whither we tend — what our duties and responsibilities, and 
what means are best calculated to advance the great ordinance 
of our being? are questions deeply interesting to all, but more 
especially to those about to enter upon the threshold of active 
life, and to assume the responsibilities of men. 

Think not, young gentlemen, that my subject is metaphysi- 
cal, nor that it is too philosophical for practical life, or for use- 
ful instruction. It is not my purpose to enter upon a discussion 
of the abstract mysteries of metaphysics, nor to enter upon the 
wide field of philosophical truth. I leave these for others more 
able than myself, and for occasions more proper than the pres- 
ent. 

I aim simply to glance at man as a rational and accountable 
being — at his duties and responsibilities — at the best means of 
promoting our own happiness and the well-being of our race, 
and the consequences resulting from a violation of the known 
duties of life. 

Young gentlemen, if you will but contemplate your condition 
in infancy — ^your utter physical helplessness, and your total 
want of consciousness, as intellectual beings, you will perceive' 
that you have already made wonderful progress towards man- 
hood ; and yet, in the judgment of men, and in the eye of the 
law, you are yet minors, and incapable of performing the duties 
of life. Though you have greatly advanced in physical 
strength and intellectual development, and though you are 
rapidly attaining the period of life when by the laws of your 


8 ADDEESS. 

country you are emancipated from tbe disabilities of minority, 
and enter upon life as men, yet you must not suppose you pos- 
sess those qualities of mind and virtues of character which, at 
once, befit you for usefulness and distinction. 

during a long series of years of anxious parental care and 
patient instruction, your minds have been prepared for the useful 
and higher instruction of this, your Alma Mater. She advances 
you, by her discipline and instruction, a step higher in the up- 
ward course of life ; but if you would be esteemed by your 
fellow-men — if you would be useful to your race — if you would 
shed new light upon the scientific world — if you would adorn 
the temples of justice — ^if you would command the armies of 
your country, or wield the power of its government — if you 
would honor the age in which you live, or hand down to pos- 
terity a name cherished for your virtues, or a memory conse- 
crated for useful and distinguished services to your country — 
in fine, if you would lead or rule in any pursuit of life, you 
must learn that you have yet learned but little. Y ou must learn 
that in no department of human industry can you be either 
useful or distinguished without unremitting effort — without in- 
defatigable labor, and without the constant practice of those so- 
cial virtues which constitute the cement of society, the strength 
of government, and the only just claim for the esteem of our 
fellow-men. 

You must not, therefore, suppose that your collegiate educa- 
tion is all that is required to fit you for success in life. If right- 
ly employed and combined with the practice of the social duties 
and Christian virtues, which so much pains have been taken, 
at home and in these halls, to instill into your minds, that will 
give you intelligence and respectability in the world ; but let 


ADDKESS. 


9 

me assure you tliat no delusion is greater, or more fatal in after 
life, than to suppose that with your collegiate labors your work is 
done. If you would be either great or useful, it is but j ust begun. 
It is true, that when you shall have quitted these halls, you are 
no longer required to pore over the classics of Greece and 
Kome — ^no longer to ponder the difficult problems of Mathe- 
matics — ^you are no longer under the watchful eye of your in- 
structors, nor the healthy discipline imposed by the laws of this 
institution. From all these you are freed, and you enter upon 
life as men ; but it is with other duties to perform, other lessons 
to learn, and other laws to obey. 

These duties relate to the great social family of which you 
forni a part. The laws which you must obey are made to protect 
society. Your duties will be higher from the fact that you 
have enjoyed superior advantages, and their performance more 
difficult, because you will have entered upon a wider field of 
action. 

Your duties naturally divide themselves into three classes. 
They relate first to your Creator, whom you have been taught 
to worship, and whose law, as the foundation of all social order, 
you must obey. Secondly, they relate to your fellow-men, to- 
wards whom you occupy the relation of equality and yet of 
dependence. In your intercourse with him you must be just, 
and kind, and upright and honest, neither leading him, nor per- 
mitting him to lead you into vice. Thirdly, they relate to your- 
selves. Your bodies are spiritual temples not made with hands. 
Your spirits are an emanation from your God. Your judg- 
ments are given you to guide your reason — to control your ac- 
tions, and to govern your passions. Your conscience, as moni- 
tors, to warn you against the perpetration of wrong. In the 


10 ADDKESS. 


scale of created beings you occupy the highest pinnacle of earth- 
ly greatness. 

You cannot defile your bodies without debasing your spirits. 
You cannot violate the conviction of your judgments without 
the condemnation of your conscience. But when you enter 
upon life as men, you come under a code of laws which affix 
heavier penalties for their infraction than mere marks of Demerit; 
and you come before tribunals which enforce their penalties 
with greater rigor than does the Faculty of this institution. 
This new code of laws is founded upon the wants of society, 
and was made to control the conduct of the great social family 
of which you become a part. The good and the bad are alike 
protected by them, and fall under the same penalties for their 
infraction. By restraining the vicious they protect the virtuous 
portion of society, and by establishing order, build up and sus- 
tain government. Without this influence bad men would run 
into every excess of immorality, and crime, anarchy, and blood- 
shed would sap the foundation of social order, destroy govern- 
ment, and with it all individual happiness. 

When you enter the world as men, you will find that the re- 
spectable and virtuous portion of society are generally engaged 
in some useful pursuit, at which they labor daily, and by which 
they acquire the means of subsistence, while the idle are prone 
to habits of vice and dissipation. There is something more of 
necessity in the habits of the industrious and virtuous portion 
of society than will at first view present itself to the mind. 

In the natural condition of our race there is no such thing as 
property. Property is the product of labor, protected by law. 
Without labor, therefore, there could be no property. In the 
natural condition of our race, we are born in utter poverty and 


ADDRESS.. 


11 

destitution. You must not, therefore, mistake the condition of 
comfort in which you find yourself at home for the natural one 
of our race. You have had prudent and industrious parents, 
who, by their labor, have provided for you the necessaries and 
' comforts of life. 

Man, too, has made wonderful progress in providing the 
means of supplying his wants, in increasing his comforts, and 
adding to his wealth. But still his natural condition is un- 
changed. In that condition he is as poor as he is helpless in in- 
fancy. God has provided and scattered around us every thing 
necessary for our subsistence, but without labor we can possess 
nothing. He created the earth for our habitation, but houses are 
necessary for our comfort. The earth is rich in the variety and 
abundance of its productions, but it requires constant and care- 
ful tillage to supply the countless millions of our race with the 
means of subsistence. The fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, 
the animals and beasts of the forests, were created for our use, 
and we have dominion over them ; but without labor we cannot 
possess and enjoy them. Without labor we should have noth- 
ing to do — nothing to live for — nothing to stimulate us to ac- 
tion. The muscles and the organs of the system, the energies 
of the man, would waste away without labor. AYithout it the 
very mind of man would prey upon itself, until existence would 
become an intolerable burden. God, who knew our nature and 
our wants, and what was best for our happiness and well-being, 
commands that we shall labor ; and as if to make obedience a 
necessity^ he makes our means of subsistence depend upon it. 
There is no escape from this necessity of our being. It is the 
great law of our existence. It is the fiat of the Almighty, and 
it must be obeyed. It is in obedience to this law that we find 


I 12 • ADDRESS. 

I tlie intelligent and virtuous portion of society engaged in some 
i useful pursuit. 

The accumulated wealtli of the world, and the greatness of 
our race are the fruits of obedience; while the vices, crimes, 
misery, poverty, pauperism, and depravity, which deform so * 
ciety, and require the strong arm of the law to repress them, 
are the natural penalties of a violation of this law. Look 
around you, young gentlemen, at the magnificent structure that 
shelters you — ^look to yonder prosperous city, rising in beauty 
and grandeur, with its domes and spires almost piercing the 
clouds — look at the vast commerce of your country floating 
upon every sea, and supplying the wants of the millions of 
other nations — ^behold the mighty ocean steamer ploughing 
with resistless strength the mountain waves of an angry ocean — 
see the lightning speed of the locomotive as it whirls along the 
iron road — ^look whither you will, the products of the laboring 
millions are before you. All you eat, all you wear, all the 
mighty works of antiquity, all the accumulated riches of the 
world, nay, the very books from which we draw, as a vast 
fountain of knowledge, all, all, are but the result of the great 
law of our existence, requiring that we shall labor. 

Nor think you that this necessity of our being is a cruel law. 
It is a merciful and wise providence of a beneficent Creator. 
Lahar---employrnefnt'-^intellectual or physical^ is the only refuge 
from our ever active, restless, and impatient selves— our only 
protection against dissipation and vice. It sweetens our food, 
strengthens our muscles, invigorates the mind, and gives life 
and vitality to the whole man, and brings with it wealthy dis' 
Unction^ and greatness ; while idleness brings dissipation, crime, 
misery, and deaths with the horrors of the eternal judgment. 


ADDRESS. 13 

I care not in what department of human industry you en- 
gage ; all pursuits are honorable, because they are necessary. It 
is not the occupation or profession that gives respectability. It 
is the intelligence, the talents, the industry, the energy, and 
skill, combined with an honest walk and virtuous life, that gives 
character to the individual, and respectability to his calling. 
In the economy of life we subdivide the pursuits that contribute 
to our wants. Some require little else than muscular strength 
— others more mental culture — others skill in the arts and sci- 
ences — ^while others, still, require a combination of all ; and yet 
all are necessary — all are honorable, and all bring with them 
the means of subsistence. The learned professions — the me- 
chanic arts — the pursuits of science and agriculture, nay, every 
department of human industry are open alike to all. But in- 
dustry, energy, and determination alone command success. It 
is the vjill which makes the man. Whatever a man is resolved 
to do, that he can accomplish. The wish to be useful and dis- 
tinguished is, however, a very different thing from the ivill. 
True greatness is not attainable by brilliant intellectual faculties 
alone; unless these are united with the nobler virtues of heart, 
and unfaltering determination of purpose, greatness is impos- 
sible. 

Our own great men are generally from the humbler walks 
of life. They were nurtured in poverty, and schooled in ad- 
versity. Necessity made them labor, and labor made them 
great. The sons of the wealthy, when educated, are left too 
frequently without employment. For want of it, and for the 
want of habits of labor, and stimulants to exertion, they fall 
into habits of self-indulgence, from which they pass rapidly into 
vice, and from one step in vice to another, and still another. 


ADDKESS. 


14 

until they sink into an inglorious grave. In our own free and 
happy government the road to fortune, to honor, to greatness, 
is open alike to all. The humble mechanic of to-day, may be 
the President of to-morrow. Intelligence, worth of character, 
industry, and energy open the way to public confidence, and 
these command popular favor. 

If our government thus throws wide the door to merits — if 
its policy be shaped and controlled by public opinion — if that 
public opinion be but the judgment of the masses — if the well- 
being and happiness of all are thus made to depend upon the 
intelligence and virtue of all, how important is it that all class- 
es should be educated, intelligent, and virtuous. And how 
great the responsibility resting upon those young gentlemen 
whose advantages indicate them as the future Judges, Senators, 
Master Mechanics, Generals and Presidents of the rising gene- 
ration ! 

Young gentlemen, can you meet this responsibility by a life 
of indolence and ease ? Did an All-wise Providence bring you 
into being— possessed of the ennobling qualities of hearth-endow- 
ed with intellectual faculties capable of infinite development — 
allow you advantages which but few of your race have en- 
joyed — and devolve upon you a government, the freest and hap- 
piest in the world, that you might dream away a life in listless- 
ness and indulgence — or steep yourselves in vice and crime — or 
seethe your bodies in liquid fire, which, while you yet live, will 
scorch and burn your very souls, dry up the fountain of every 
virtue, and sink you to the depths of infamy and crime f Did 
God, I say, create you thus^ and for such a purpose ? 

Was it for no higher purpose that man was created the no- 
blest of living creatures? Was it for such an abuse of his na- 


ADDKESS. 15 

ture that this beautiful orb was prepared for his habitation, and 
provided with every thing necessary for his comfort? 

Is this the return you propose to make to your kind parents 
for the anxious care and sleepless watchings over your infancy ? 
Is it thus you would reward those distinguished votaries of sci- 
ence who have devoted their talents and learning to show you 
the high places of honor and usefulness in your country ? 

No, young gentlemen, this is not to meet aright purposes of 
life^ and yet, sad as is the truth, it is but the history of too many 
of our talented and highly educated young gentlemen. They 
become educated drunkards^ poisoning the very atmosphere in 
which they breathe with moral contagion, spend their days and 
nights in Bacchanalian orgies, in blasphemous revelry, and in a 
wild delirium of lust, and end a miserable existence in the 
mad-house, the State prison, or in one of those “licensed hells,” 
with which our country abounds. 

If you would avoid such a fate, I warn you, when you quit 
these halls, to choose you a pursuit, (I care not what it may be,) 
go to work, and follow it with unfaltering determination of 
purpose. Avoid idleness, for that'begets dissipation, vice, crime 
and misery. These render hopeless, irretrievably hopeless, all 
who fall into them. 

Think not, young gentlemen, that I have overdrawn the pic- 
ture. It is but true to the life. I know that to your youthful 
visions all is bright, and beautiful, and fascinating. I know 
that the dark crimes which blacken the character of men, de- 
form human nature, and dishonor our Creator, are as far as pos- 
sible removed from the eye’ of the virtuous and youthful. But 
you only see the bright side of the picture of life. You but 
see the brilliant rainbow, while the blackness of the cloud is 
hid from your view. 


ADDEESS. 


16 


If you would realize your own hopes, or fulfill the anxious 
expectations of your friends — if you would avoid a wreck of 
constitution, health, and happiness, you should shun the com- 
pany of the idle and dissolute as you would the approach of the 
deadly pestilence. You should be punctual, honorable, and 
just in all your dealings with others — never compromising your 
sense of self-respect^ nor stifling the monitions of conscience, 
from considerations of present interest. By such a course, and 
by applying yourself with all your energy, and with unfalter- 
ing determination of purpose to some useful pursuit, the habits 
of labor you have acquired, the discipline your minds have re- 
ceived, will command success in any department of life, and 
will secure you the highest earthly reward, in the esteem and 
respect of the honorable and just of your race. 

But, young gentlemen, I cannot close this address without re- 
minding you that you have other duties to perform besides 
those above adverted to. 

This Institution, by its course of instruction, not only quali- 
fies you for the high places in civil life — giving you every re- 
quisite for distinguished statesmanship, which literary and sci- 
entific instruction can furnish — but the military department 
qualifies you for other duties no less important to your country. 

In our government the people are the source of all political 
power. This is so in fcbct as well as in theory. The government 
is an emanation from them, was instituted by them and for 
their own benefit. So likewise the duty of its preservation de- 
volves upon them. This can be done only by an intelligent 
administration of its affairs, and by their watchful vigilance 
against the first approaches of corruption and usurpation of 
power. 


ADDEESS. 17 

Hence it will be seen that the duties and responsibilities rest- 
ing upon an American citizen are different, and far higher, than 
those devolving upon the citizens or subjects of the other forms 
of government Naturally jealous of their liberties and rights^ 
our people have, from the first, denied to their government the 
use of large standing armies, as dangerous to j^oigular liberty. 
Large armies are necessary in governments where the people 
are ruled by the strong arm of power. Without such instru- 
ments of oppression the people would rise, assert their natural 
rights, and shake off the rule of despotism. All past history 
warned our ancestors of the danger of such armies to popular 
liberty. The fate of the French Eepubhcs, and the manner in 
which popular liberty has been more than once stifled by 
French bayonets, confirms the wisdom of this policy. How far 
5 standing army was necessary — to what extent its existence 
was compatible with public safety — were questions of deep 
and anxious concern and of great embarrassment to the wise 
patriots who inaugurated the early policy of our government. 
In a government founded upon the affections of the people, de- 
riving its power from them, and returning it at short intervals 
for a renewal of trust, such armies could hardly be needed, ex- 
cept for the purpose of repelling foreign aggression. In all 
such emergencies our reliance has been upon the courage and 
patriotism of the citizen soldier. Our e:8:perience in three wars, 
and victories achieved by our arms, unsnrpassed in the annals 
of history, have established too firmly in the public mind the 
safety of this reliance, to make it at all probable that we will now 
depart from a policy having its origin in the nature of our form 
of government. 

But still, armies are the only means a nation possesses of re- 

2 



18 ADDRESS. 


pelling insult, or of resisting aggression ; and war is a science 
which can only be understood by study, while discipline, an 
important element of success, can best be learned in the school 
of the soldier. The skill of our people in the mechanic arts, 
may enable them to make excellent instruments of death, and 
their courage and skill in the use of these arms may fit them for 
good soldiers. But it is of the first importance to success that 
they should have some knowledge of an art, which is, with all 
nations, a chief element of power. The Military Department 
of the University is intended to supply this knowledge. 

Here the art of war is taught you as a science. So important 
is this branch of knowledge regarded that you will find no great 
nation without its national military schools. Even in our own 
country, jealous as are our people of large armies, we have at 
West Point a National Military Institution, established and sus^ 
tained by the government of the United States, where those in- 
tended as officers of the permanent army are taught, at the pub- 
lic expense, every branch of knowledge pertaining to war. 

In this University you are taught the destructive art upon 
the same principle, under the same discipline, and subject to 
the same rules as at the national school — thus qualifying you 
for the discharge of the duties of the patriot in the field as well 
as in the forum. 

It being thus made apparent that the government of your 
country is dependent upon you, both in peace and war — that 
you select all her rulers and high functionaries from among 
yourselves — that you are the sole recipients of all its countless 
blessings, and that its preservation and continued existence de- 
pends upon the virtue and patriotism of the people, of whom 
you are a part, need I remind you, young gentlemen, that upon 


ADDRESS. 


19 

you, and the generation growing up with you, the government 
of this great country must soon devolve ? Need I tell you 
that its continued existence, as a great confederacy of States, 
depends upon the maintainance of the national compact of 
union, in all its parts and provisions — and that he who would 
mutilate the Constitution, by destroying the rights guaranteed 
to the States, strikes at the great Charter of our liberties, and 
is as much a traitor to his country as he who makes open war 
against the government itself? 

It is a maxim of Political Economy, as just as it is reason- 
able, that the obligation of the governed to obey the call, to 
defend the rights, and maintain the honor of the government to 
W'hich allegiance is due, are in exact proportion to the blessings 
conferred by the government. Measuring your duty by this 
maxim of sound political ethics, how great are your obligations? 
Need I remind you that it is your duty to love your country — 
your whole country — and that you should cherish no love more 
ardent than that for your country ? 

In admonishing you thus to be true to your country, I am 
not to be understood as entertaining doubts of your patriotism. 

Tennessee has ever been loyal to the union of the States. 
Her sons have shed their blood upon too many battle- fields of 
the Eepublic — they cherish too lively a recollection of the he- 
roic deeds of their fathers who fought under the venerated 
Jackson, ever to prove traitors to a government which has ele- 
vated our country to its present exalted position among the na- 
tions of the earth. Tennessee occupies the position of the 
heart of the great Eepublic; therefore, the opinions and patri- 
otism of her sons should form a sound and healthy nationality^ 
fit for circulation throughout the vast Eepublic, and all its 



ADDRESS. 


20 

parts. I have told you, young gentlemen, that in peace and in 
war the reliance of your country is upon ^’•ou. In peace she 
expects you to make for her wise laws, to construe them justly, 
and to execute them with firmness and impartiality. She has 
no privileged classes — no Lords and Nobles, with hereditary 
right- to rank and power. She has no Emperor, whose decrees 
are laws — no Queen to call you “ her people.” You, your- 
selves, and those like you, are the only Lords and Nobles — the 
only sovereigns known to our goyernment and laws. To the 
honor of our country be it remembered, that we are a nation 
of freemen — with no laws except such as we ourselves enact — 
subject to no rulers except such as our people may choose. 

Upon you in time of war she likewise depends to command 
her armies and fight her battles. No matter what your country’s 
cause of quarrel. It is enough for the patriot to know she is in 
war. Be her cause right or wrong, it is your duty to espouse 
it, and if she calls upon you to command her armies, to lead 
them to victory or to death. If she calls upon you to shoulder 
the musket, and in the ranks to march to the cannon’s mouth, 
there, with your life’s blood, to seal your devotion to your coun- 
try, the past history of our people, proves that you would be 
ready for the sacrifice. The noble daring and self-sacrificing 
patriotism of our people, who rush, as volunteers, to their 
country’s standard, and support it amidst the din ofhattle^ excite 
the wonder and admiration of the world. The chivalrous love 
of country, which incites the American soldier to deeds of 
heroic valor, is illustrated in every battle field in the Kepublic. 
It is the noblest characteristic of our people, and it should be 
inscribed on a monument greater than those of Egypt, to last 
while time rolls on, in honor and glory of the American soldier. 



Al>DRB:feS. 

If our people are but true to themselves and the great mis- 
sion of their country — if they but preserve the Union of the 
States, m ike spirit in which it was formed — in less than the life- 
time of your University — whose semi-centennial anniversary 
you now celebrate — our government will be the great power of 
the earth, overshadowing all others with its colossal strength 
and giant proportions, and by the influence which our free in- 
stitutions are destined to exercise, revolutionizing the world. 

I utter this not as a prediction, but I announce it as the ne- 
cessary effect of our system of free government, and more per- 
! feet humanity. We have scarcely passed from the condition of 
i infantile weakness into one of strength and activity, and yet 
our vigorous growth and wonderful developments, by the prac- 
tical illustrations of the effect of free government upon the con- 
dition of our race, are already unsettling the political maxims 
and creeds of past ages. 

I speak not of the vast resources of our government, nor of 
the untold wealth of a nation of freemen, cultivating a vast and 
fertile continent — without taxes to repress their energies — with- 
out standing armies to eat out their substance or stifle their as- 
pitations for the enjoyment of rights as essentially theirs 
as the air we breathe. I speak of a great moral and mental 
revolution, which is to enlighten the masses — to teach them 
their rights — to give them a knowledge of their power — ^to 
arouse their energies to an assertion of their rights, and thus to 
free and regenerate the world. 

In 1848, in the tottering thrones and fugitive kings andmon- 
archs of Europe, we beheld the first convulsive movements of 
the mighty energies of the masses, enlightened, imperfectly as 
they were, of their rights, by the glimmering lights of the star 



ADDRESS. 


22 

of liberty just rising above tbe political horizon. But let that 
star reach the zenith of its greatness, and shed upon them the 
lights of the orb of day — ^let them but taste the sweets of liber- 
ty, and breathe the air of freedom, and learn that these are 
man’s heritage from his God, and woe be to the crowned heads 
of Europe. 

The mission of our government and people is to consolidate 
and develope the resources of this great country, to teach the 
benighted masses of other countries, by the light of our example, 
and to lead them, as by “a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by 
night,” through the wilderness of darkness and despotism, with 
which they are surrounded. It is thus that the clouds of igno- 
rance, with which the masses of other countries have been so 
long held in darkness, are to be dissipated, and the errors and 
sophisms of those claiming to rule and oppress by divine com- 
mission, are to give place to the lights of practical truth, and 
sound political morality, so beautifully illustrated in our free 
institutions. 

Upon you, young gentlemen — in your day and generation — 
will devolve the duty of fulfilling the high mission of your 
country, of upholding the Constitution, as the “ ark of the cov- 
enant” of these States, and of handing it over — in unimpaired 
strength and incorrupted purity — to those who are to succeed 
you in the great mission of our country. 

Being prepared by mental culture, and by military science 
and discipline, for the great work of life before you, content your- 
selves with nothing short of pre-eminence. Fitted for master 
mechanics, successful agriculturists, wise legislators, learned 
senators, enlightened jurists, brave soldiers, distinguished gen- 
erals, able presidents, may not your Alma Mater hope that you 


ADDRESS. 


23 


will fulfill her highest expectations ? May not your country 
demand of you to abstain from habits that unfit you for useful- 
ness, and that you will exercise your talents in some useful 
pursuit, calculated to elevate her still higher among the nations 
of the earth ? 

Shall she not find in you the advocates of popular right, the 
defenders of eivil and religious liberty, and the ehampions of 
free government? 

Having thus, young gentlemen, attempted (how feebly none 
know better than myself) to present you with my views of the 
purposes of life, with its duties and responsibilities, with the 
surest means of success in its pursuits, and pointed you to the 
roeks upon which are wrecked the hopes and prospects of many 
favored with its high advantages — if I shall have succeeded in 
exciting within your bosoms an honorable ambition to meet 
them aright, my labor will not have been performed in vain. 
To be permitted to cherish such a hope is the only reward your 
speaker expeets or desires. 



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